Faint wailing drifted up from downstairs, leaving the two on the second floor looking at each other.
The little thing had just been crying heartbreakingly in her mother’s arms, confessing all the bad things she had done over the years. She only cried and begged her mother not to abandon her and jump into the river alone, but to take her with her if she jumped. Lynch then realized he had unintentionally hit upon the very thing the little one feared most.
Thinking it over carefully, Martha’s intentions weren’t exactly heinous, and her methods did have an effect. At the very least, she kept those wild children with no morals in check, and she did improve public safety in the Crown District.
According to Officer Natalie’s experience, even if she were taken to the Hall of Order to confess, she wouldn’t face much trouble. It would even be difficult to return the stolen goods, as the amount taken from each victim was small, and people weren’t willing to quibble with a group of children. So, no one had ever pursued it, and few even reported it to the police.
So at most, she’d be lectured and sent away, because she had saved the police a lot of trouble, and they didn’t want to deal with it at all.
In summary, no irreparable consequences had been caused yet, but her methods were truly too malicious, all built on exploiting the goodness of human nature. If this continued, something serious would definitely happen in the future, harming not only herself but also others. It had to be corrected.
Mrs. Maggie never dreamed her daughter had such experiences. She no longer cared about fighting Lynch and ran downstairs, clutching her daughter. The two prepared to close the door and have a detailed talk.
Lynch, however, no longer planned to jump out the window and flee. Looking at Mrs. Maggie’s complex expression, there seemed to be a hint of gratitude. She should still be reasonable; it seemed he wouldn’t have to face a furious mother. If she was willing to be reasonable, things would be much easier. Lynch figured he wouldn’t need to move, but now he had another problem to face.
A woman brimming with curiosity, her eyes sparkling. To describe it in words from his hometown, her soul of gossip was burning fiercely.
This greatly surprised Lynch. It turned out that the serious and brave Officer Natalie had this side to her; even half-cold black tea couldn’t shut her up. She kept pressing with questions, forcing Lynch to use something else to silence her.
Of course, it was the honey biscuits he bought on the way.
So, the tall, mature, long-haired officer, while nibbling small bites of honey biscuits held in both hands like a squirrel, listened with shining eyes as Lynch recounted his experience.
By the end of his story, Lynch also realized that the little thing truly had no malicious intent today. She probably found her mother wasn’t home, so she proactively brewed black tea and helped serve it, wanting to appease this disgusting adult who had promised to keep her secret. But then she saw the odds and ends on the table and, lacking any sense of boundaries, started playing with them, almost playing away her own life.
“I’ve learned my lesson too. I definitely need to buy a safe and lock up all the mystery relics every day. It’s too scary.”
Officer Natalie smiled. “When we first met, I told you that every mystery relic is extremely dangerous for ordinary people. Now you understand, don’t you?”
“Yes, I understand. I’ll never be careless again. Thank you.”
He thought this to himself, but Lynch said aloud, “You didn’t say that when we first met. You just pinned me to the ground and said you’d grant me anything if I survived… Ow.”
His toe was stepped on again. How did this woman, in the blink of an eye, manage to step on his foot over the coffee table while holding biscuits, then go back to nibbling them?
No, wait, she didn’t even blink.
This reminded him of the main topic, and he said excitedly, “I originally couldn’t have saved Martha just now, but something seemed to explode in my mind. This must be the feeling of activating an authority, right? It felt as if my whole body was filled with strength, as if I was omnipotent. I rushed to that little brat’s side in an instant, just like this…”
Lynch tried to recreate the experience from a moment ago, but no matter how he tried in his mind, he couldn’t find that feeling of an explosion deep within his soul. He looked up in confusion and saw Officer Natalie looking at him with a strange smile.
“I didn’t misjudge you. To risk your life for a little girl you barely know, your character is indeed trustworthy.” Officer Natalie’s smile was exceptionally gentle, and she said softly, “Don’t try anymore. That was you unintentionally activating your soul’s instinct to enter the ultimate transcendent state. Besides the immense consumption, each time it ends, you’ll remain in a state of soul weakness for at least an hour. You can’t reproduce it now.”
“Huh? The same state you were in last night?”
“Yes. Actually, activating a single authority to strengthen your power and speed would have been enough, but you completely lack a Soul Severer’s combat awareness, and you were genuinely anxious, so you instinctively activated the strongest state.”
It seemed that was indeed the case. After his soul alienated and drew upon the red moon’s power last night, he went home and even fell asleep without trying out his new abilities.
Although there was the reason of excessive soul power consumption, he had also become somewhat complacent. In this mysterious world fraught with danger, no one knew what would happen the next moment. He had to arm himself as much as possible and keep himself in the best condition, otherwise, a slight carelessness could lead to complete disaster.
One lesson was enough; he must never get carried away again.
“It’s good that you understand. Since you have already stepped into the world of mystery, every moment of slackening means slipping deeper into the abyss of the Dreamlands.”
Although she was still holding and nibbling honey biscuits, Officer Natalie’s tone was very serious:
“I also came today for this reason. It’s time to systematically let you understand Soul Severers.”
Lynch’s heart tightened, knowing this meant he was finally going to truly become a Soul Severer. He raised a hand to signal Officer Natalie to pause, then took several deep breaths to calm his tense emotions. Only then did he sit up straight and nod.
“Everyone needs to rely on soul power to maintain a normal will. We call it energy. After alienation, our souls are exceptionally strong, and we have far more energy than ordinary people, which supports us in using abilities and arcane arts. Energy generally recovers quickly during sleep, and there are some special mystery relics that can help restore it, but they are rare. The reserve of energy gradually increases as we understand authorities. Overall, the higher our energy, the stronger our combat power.”
Lynch nodded. Blue bar, got it.
“But alienation also has its dangers. The biggest danger is that our souls lose their barrier, constantly absorbing mystery from the environment. Additionally, being in a high-concentration mysterious environment or having deep contact with a mysterious event will cause mystery to rapidly accumulate in the soul. This is what people commonly refer to as being constantly eroded by mystery. This process is irreversible.”
“So this is a path that can’t be stopped?” Lynch thought of Archbishop Trinlais’s previous warning. “What happens if too much accumulates?”
“Mystery constantly fills the soul and can escape at any moment, thereby polluting our will, turning us into uncontrolled madmen or twisted monsters. Therefore, we must always maintain a strong will and stable soul, otherwise, we will be completely assimilated into the mystery.”
“So we can only try to avoid too much contact with mystery?”
“Unfortunately, no, that won’t work either. With daily accumulation, there will eventually be a day when it’s full. If a sealed wine barrel full of water continues to have more wine poured into it, the wine will naturally squeeze out from the gaps in the wood. The soul is the same. If one cannot promptly begin the next alienation to expand their soul, the full soul will gradually expand. The greater the degree of expansion, the higher the possibility of mystery escaping.”
“Then start the next alienation as soon as possible.”
“It’s not that easy. The next alienation requires two conditions to be met. First, there must be a holy mystery that guides us to comprehend the characteristics of a deity. Second, a thorough understanding of one’s already alienated authority, and mastering at least four abilities for each authority. The higher the authority level, the fewer suitable holy mysteries and accompanying materials there are, and the higher the difficulty of comprehending abilities. Therefore, many mid-to-high-rank Soul Severers often have souls already full, but are unable to undergo the next alienation, ultimately twisting into monsters.”
“So, to comprehend abilities…”
“Two ways. One is mystery documents, which are essentially records left by predecessors, transformed into mystery documents because they carried mysterious information. These abilities are generally very basic, foundational abilities. More powerful abilities are difficult to record in text, because ordinary Soul Severers cannot bear that level of mystery. Here are two mystery documents.”
Officer Natalie patted the box she had brought:
“The other way is to constantly come into contact with memories of mystery, whether they are mystery relics or mysterious events, to savor and learn from these memories, and comprehend one’s own abilities.”
“Regardless of the method, it will actually worsen the mysterious contamination in the soul.”
“Yes, but in the early stages, you don’t need to consider these. After all, in the early stages, we can’t come into contact with things that are too high in mystery, or we won’t be able to handle them, so there’s no need to worry about excessive mysterious contamination. That’s a problem for later.”
The problem is I need to contend for divine authority with evil gods.
Lynch could only give a wry smile. He finally truly realized what a difficult path he had chosen.
The path of an ordinary Soul Severer was already arduous enough, yet he still had to frequently come into contact with evil gods…
【You don’t need to worry too much about mysterious filth, Lynch. Your will has high resistance to filth. Evil gods won’t let too much mysterious filth accumulate within you, and the effects of mysterious filth can recover quickly. I reminded you of this from the very beginning.】
Lynch thought about it. Indeed, from the very beginning, when he first saw Drunken Peter’s corpse, she had reminded him, but…
‘Why is that?’
【Your soul is special.】
‘Because I’m a transmigrator?’
【Actually… no. You will know the reason in the future. For now, just remember that you don’t need to worry about too much filth accumulating in your soul like most people. However, if filth escapes, it is still fatal to you, so be extremely careful.】
Alright, at least that’s good news.
Lynch smiled, pointing at the box in Officer Natalie’s hand. “So, my path as a Soul Severer begins with this box?”
Officer Natalie opened the box with a serious expression.
Inside the box were two wooden boxes the size of books. On each box lay an envelope. A faint sense of danger emanated from within, a warning from his inspiration.
“Here are two abilities belonging to the Concealment authority. They are said to come from a Soul Severer of the Goddess of the Night, who also seems to share the authority of Concealment. Unlike comprehending abilities from mystery on one’s own, when accepting predecessors’ understanding from mystery documents, due to insufficient mystery, various mysterious materials must be used as aids to guide the user to comprehend the abilities. Some high-level ones even require the materials to be refined into potions, but these two do not.”
Lynch nodded and picked up the first document.
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